We’re making it easier and more affordable to build in New Zealand. We know that New Zealand needs to build more of everything –  houses, roads, hospitals, schools, and more.

However, red tape and bureaucracy has made it really hard and expensive to build and get stuff done.

So, we’re using every tool and lever we can to change that, and to back our fantastic construction sector to get on and build the things we  need to get this country’s economy humming.

Construction costs have risen 40% since 2019, spurred on by a lack of competition in our building sector. The status quo is simply  unacceptable. That’s why we have announced a raft of measures designed to make building quicker and cheaper, to help you get back on  to your tools, instead of the paperwork. We ‘re making it easier for around 250,000 high quality building products to come into the market  from overseas this year alone. Bringing hundreds of thousands of new options into the market will put downward pressure on prices,  improving competition and affordability.

From July, more than 12,000 essential products such as plasterboard, cladding and insulation will be cleared for use. Increasing options on  the market is good not only for prices and competition but also for supply. You can be confident they’ll no more hiked up charges  because we’ve run out of the basics.

We also introduced our Investment Boost policy earlier in the year, which gives businesses a tax incentive to invest in new tools and  equipment. Businesses can now deduct 20% of the cost of new machinery, tools and equipment off their taxable income. This is on top of  existing depreciation meaning a much lower tax bill in the year of purchase. For example, if a tradie wants to buy a new ute for their staff at  $150,000, they will be able to immediately deduct $30,000 from their taxable income.

We’re also making changes to back our builders by cracking down on cowboys. Our tradies are highly skilled and hardworking, but some  high-profile examples of poor workmanship are tarring the good work of the majority of our builders. We’re going to remove regulations that  choke productivity in our building system, while having checks and balances in the system to prevent shoddy work.

We’ll improve the complaints process, while strengthening disciplinary and transparency processes for builders to ensure that the few  cowboys that let the industry down face proper consequences.

You also may have heard that you won’t need consents to build 70 metre square granny flats, so more families can build without jumping  through hoops. These changes are expected to see 13,000 more granny flats built over the next decade – giving families more affordable,  flexible housing options. If your clients want to take advantage of solar energy on their houses, we are fasttracking the process by requiring consents to be processed in 10 days. We’ve also exempted homeowners from paying the building levy for projects under $ 65,000 and  increased the use of remote inspections to reduce delays. These changes are just the start. There’s more to come as we get on with fixing  the consenting system and cutting through further the red tape. Our Government is backing the construction sector to make quicker and  cheaper to build in New Zealand.